Pick of the week's comedy on TV and radio

The week's best comedy on TV and radio

Sunday May 31

THE RANGANATHAN: This week, Romesh Ranganathan will be joined virtually by Aisling Bea and Jason Manford.BBC Two,  9.15pm

Monday June 1

COMEDIANS: HOME ALONE: The BBC snaps up the best of what comedians are doing online in isolation of this series of seven 15-minute compilations. In tonight’s opening episode, Bob Mortimer’s Train Guy comes to life in an animation, Michael Spicer takes on Priti Patel in the Room Next Door and married comedians Rachel Parris and Marcus Brigstocke perform a lip sync battle. Plus contributions from Kerry Godliman and Rhys James. BBC Two, 10pm

Wednesday June 3

RIK MAYALL ON RADIO: Broadcaster and producer John Lloyd explores the radio career of Rik Mayall with interviews from some of the people closest to him, including Ade Edmondson, Rowan Atkinson and Richard Curtis Programmes featured include: Higher Education (2000), The Reunion (2018) and an edited version of the programme where Sue MacGregor reunited five people who made their names in The Young Ones. This was first broadcast in 2018. Radio 4 Extra, 9am

WHAT’S FUNNY ABOUT...  BLACKADDER: Behind-the-screens TV veterans Peter Fincham and Jon Plowman talk to producere John Lloyd and Blackadder star Sir Tony Robinson about the show’s unsteady start, tensions among the team, the ‘ladder of stupidity’ in Blackadder’s world, and the real story behind that famous final scene. Radio 4 Extra, 10.30pm

KEVIN BRIDGES LIVE: THE STORY CONTINUES This week’s Comedy Central Wednesday-night stand-up special was recorded in 2012 as part of Kevin Bridges’s residency at the SECC Arena in his Glasgow hometown. Comedy Central, 9pm

Friday June 5

THE OTHER ONE: A mere two-and-a-half years after the pilot - such is the urgent, frenetic pace of modern television – this  promising sitcom about two women who discover they are half-sisters thanks to a bigamist dad gets a full series. A lot of possibilities are set up with this repeated, incident-packed pilot, before the new episodes launch next week. It stars  Ellie White and Lauren Socha as the sisters, and  Siobhan Finneran and Rebecca Front as their mum, and the show was created and written by Holly Walsh  and Pippa Brown.  Read our original review here. BBC One, 9pm

TOMMY COOPER IN HIS OWN WORDS:  A not entirely accurate title since this repeated 2018 documentary features friends and colleagues talk about working with Tommy (including his daughter Vicky giving) her first TV interview, but still there's welcome footage of the comedian too. Channel 5, 10pm.

Saturday June 6

MICHAEL McINTRYE’S BIG LAUGHS: In lieu of new content, the comedian looks back at some of his favourite moments from the Big Show, including Send To All segments withHolly Willoughby and Jamie Oliver, and Midnight Gameshow with Judge Rinder. BBC One, 8.15pm

Published: 31 May 2020